July 23, 2024 • 57 mins
Puerto Rico llega a París con una de las delegaciones olímpicas más grandes en su historia. ¿Qué representa el olimpismo para los boricuas? Dialogamos con los periodistas deportivos e investigativos, Hermes Ayala y José M. Encarnación.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:16):
Saludos amigos de Metro Puerto Rico. Les acompaña Ayola Vireya,
editora en jefe del periódico Metro, en un nuevo episodio del podcast con los editores.
Esta semana que comienza el 22 de julio, aunque usted escuche este podcast, ¿verdad?
A su conveniencia, es semana de muchos eventos noticiosos. En Puerto Rico,
(00:39):
semana de vacaciones, muchos días festivos.
A nivel político, se celebra el 25 de julio, que es la conmemoración del Estado Libre Asociado.
También se observa un evento político en Puerto Rico, ¿verdad?
Con los asesinatos políticos del Cerro Maravilla.
El 27 de julio, los estadistas celebran también el natalicio de José Celso Barbosa.
(01:04):
A nivel de noticias de actualidad en Estados Unidos, mucho movimiento con la
salida de la candidatura de Joe Biden,
pero a nivel deportivo en el fin de semana, inicia un evento que cada cuatro
años une a los países deportivamente y son las Olimpiadas este año en París.
(01:26):
Y para dialogar sobre cómo Puerto Rico llega a estas olimpiadas,
qué representa el olimpismo, sobre todo para nosotros los puertorriqueños,
me acompañan tres grandes colegas periodistas.
Sumo a esta conversación al editor web de Metro Puerto Rico,
Fernando Collazo. Saludos, Fernando.
¿Cómo estás? Saludos, Ayola, y saludos también, que ahora lo vamos a presentar
(01:49):
a Hermes y Encarnación, que estamos aquí como en los viejos tiempos otra vez.
Exacto. Vamos a estar compartiendo con periodistas que son grandes colegas y
que ustedes conocen porque han participado por muchos años y han sido parte
de lo que es Metro Puerto Rico.
Por nosotros, Hermes Ayala, pasado editor, coordinador del calce.com,
(02:09):
periodista investigativo, periodista deportivo, artista y ahora uno de los investigadores
de Cuarto Poder y de Los Datos son los Datos. Saludos, Hermes, ¿cómo te encuentras?
Saludos, saludos para mí. Es una honra volver a verlos ustedes.
Mira, Fernando, ya estoy bien, que la otra vez no pude ir para el cárcel porque me estaba operando.
(02:32):
Pero aquí estamos, vamos a hablar de deporte. Gracias por llamarme para hablar
de deporte, que estoy...
Que es algo que trabajé durante, wow, las primeras dos décadas de mi carrera,
diría yo, y es un tema que siempre tengo muy cerca de mi corazón.
(02:53):
Y vamos a estar hablando de esas primeras dos décadas y lo que cubriste,
porque cubriste ciclos olímpicos, pero también quiero sumar a la conversación
al colega periodista investigador en el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.
He's been with us for many years, he's also a sports journalist, he's been on ESPN.
José Encarnación, hello José, you're on mute.
(03:17):
Welcome to this podcast with the editors.
Hello Ayola, hello Fernando and hello to Papa Hermes. So, I'm happy to be with
you again, as in the old days.
Well, we wanted to have both of you because both of you have a vast knowledge
en lo que es la cobertura deportiva y tienen el contexto político,
(03:37):
histórico de lo que significa para Puerto Rico el olimpismo.
Fernando ha estado cubriendo también las bases deportivas en nuestros espacios
en metro y Fernando ha delineado una agenda de hoy, de los temas que vamos a
tocar, así que dejo el timón aquí a Fernando Collazo.
Gracias, Ayola. I would like to start, right, talking to Hermes and Jose about
(04:04):
the experiences they have had covering various sports cycles, Olympic cycles.
Hermes, if you could give me a little summary of the journalistic trajectory
that you have had and what have been those sports events that have marked you
the most, que hay múltiples desde el 2004 hacia acá,
llevamos casi dos décadas de que estás cubriendo aquí diversas plataformas como
(04:30):
tuvimos una conversación anteriormente.
No, yo diría que desde el 2000.
Since 2000, I would say that I have been covering the Olympics.
I remember that the first Olympic team of boxers that came to El Bocero,
(04:55):
that came from Maracaibo, that had participated in Maracaibo and then also in Winnipeg, 9899-2000.
Those were my first experiences with what the Olympics was like when my father
in the sports journalism, José Manuel Irán Martínez's grandfather,
(05:18):
managed to get me to the world,
coming from Diálogo when I was 20 years old.
And that's when I started to see what the Olympics was like.
And the most thing that caught my attention was that team of boxers.
Because from where I am, from Vega Baja, there was a boxer who won a bronze
(05:39):
medal, that was Aníbal Acevedo.
And then, well, there I could see this group of boxers that I have,
it seems to me that Miguel Cotto was in that,
I'm looking for it here, but it seems to me that Miguel Cotto was in that team,
if it wasn't from 2000, was from 96,
(06:02):
but I understand that Cotto was there, yes, in 2000, in that Olympic team.
I think that Iván Calderón too.
Let me, I don't think, no, Iván, yes, Iván Calderón was also in that team.
So, not just those boxers that for me were the first ones that caught my attention,
(06:27):
but to understand beyond what I had already covered with respect to athleticism,
which at that time was the LAI.
To understand well how the athleticism federation worked. I tell you, super rookie one.
And then the basketball team, which I think didn't compete that year in Sydney.
(06:53):
But I was already working with them, what were international competitions that
would lead to Olympic participation.
Because from 2000 to 2004 I covered all that cycle with the national team.
Except for 2004, which I still tell him to go.
I tell him to go to the one who was my boss, who didn't send me.
(07:17):
Because everyone knows the big game of Puerto Rico with the United States.
But... Hey, Hermes, and excuse me for interrupting you, your coverage of that
Olympic cycle, when we went to coordinate, and I call you, in my mind,
in my imagination, was that you had been in Athens.
(07:38):
Because even though you didn't travel there, but you were covering the cycle. Yes, yes, yes.
I was covering it from here, right? So...
It was a bit of a bitter game, because we won, yes, right? but I had done the
whole cycle and I couldn't go, but of course, one understands already,
(07:58):
as one advances in this profession, that there are things that one does not control.
At that moment, the newspaper in which I worked was going through some quite
interesting economic processes,
but that did not take away from the fact that one could not be a participant
in that, to the point that I have always had in my mind a project in Sierne,
(08:21):
in Sierne eternal, Because I've never been able to, I've never been able to
realize a solid proposal.
But after working on what was New York Rican Basket, working a little on the
investigation and in the media consultancy,
together with, together with, together with, oh my God, together with Olivero and Dr.
(08:48):
Julio César Torres, I had in mind a question that was called the cry of Athens,
thinking specifically about that game of Puerto Rico against the United States.
So, that's just what tells you the importance that for me the Puerto Rican Olympism has.
(09:10):
And even more, let's go now to what is the celebration of the Puerto Rican national identity.
Because while it is true that the game is so-and-so, or the sports activity
is so-and-so, or Tito Trinidad can come and have a fight every now and then, Amanda Serrano, right?
(09:34):
And there are also other activities, right? Musicals, cultural,
including Miss Universe and all that.
It's very rare that it happens during a whole month that the Puerto Rican identity
is being exalted as it is going to happen now, from this weekend when the games start.
(09:56):
Speaking of what is going to happen now, Encarnación, listening to Hermes,
and Hermes has been your mentor,
right, also in what is sports journalism, ¿Qué tú proyectas a nivel deportivo
e identitario que va a pasar entonces en estas próximas semanas?
Bueno, yo creo que estos juegos tienen una importancia bien particular por varios aspectos, ¿verdad?
(10:19):
Desde el punto de vista deportivo, pues hay que destacar lo que va a suceder, ¿verdad?
Con las dos selecciones de baloncesto, es la primera ocasión que la federación
logra llevar los dos equipos a un evento olímpico. I think that from a sporting
point of view, it draws attention, but at a social level, it says much more
than we can sportively highlight.
(10:40):
What it represents is that female selection, in the framework of that eternal
fight they carry for receiving funds in the same way that the male team receives them,
that receiving the deals that the male team receives, is reflected in their
performance, it says a lot.
And in the same way, the efforts that they managed to channel in the male team
(11:03):
to return to that sitial that since 2004 we did not enjoy it and now we are going to enjoy it.
And it is an election year and you should not lose perspective.
Here there is a sector that usually discards the possibility of linking the
sports discussion at the Olympic level with what happens at the political level.
(11:24):
And I think that in our context, from the colonial aspect, both things walk
hand in hand, even when politically that identity that Hermes points out,
many times it is politically hindered.
But it doesn't stop being important, because it talks about what,
even from the corner of the reasonless, to call it that.
(11:47):
Because that identity is latent in some way, and that, for me, is important.
And nothing, I mean, I think that the participation of the diaspora also speaks.
I mean, both basketball teams, for example, are characterized by being very
similar to the case that he pointed out to me from the New York team and Can Basket,
from that connection that Puerto Ricans have in the United States,
(12:11):
which are second, third generation,
and they are connected with us.
One of the main figures, José Alvarado, feels Puerto Rican and we saw it in
his participation here in Puerto Rico, how he lived those games.
And also the case of Aiden Owens, Yasmín Camacho.
Again, the diaspora trying to establish those connections. I think that speaks a lot.
(12:34):
Yes, sportively, but I think the importance that stands out the most in these
Olympic Games is what speaks at the social level. O sea que hay un montón de mensajes, ¿verdad?
Que están ahí sobre la mesa y que merecen una interpretación y más un año electoral
o eleccionario como el que vamos a vivir este año.
(12:55):
Se me da agua en los ojos y siento el aura de Elios Castro bendiciéndonos ahora mismo.
No, yo escucho a Encarnación y quería compartir una pequeña anécdota.
We meet at the production level about how the Olympics coverage will be and
we meet, Metro is part of an international conglomerate, we meet with the editors
(13:20):
of different countries to organize the work.
And when we are going to enter that meeting, I am with Fernando and they tell
us, ah, Puerto Rico, in this, in this, yes, in this, yes, they are a country.
And it's like shocking, right? For this, this, this is an event where we have
sovereignty and we are represented as a country.
(13:43):
How do the rest of the countries see us in that global context?
Because sometimes, sometimes when we are interacting, they don't know how to
refer to us, right? They are part of the United States, but they are not,
but they are a country, but they speak Spanish.
And this colloquial thing that they say, ah, no, in this they are a country,
has an incredible weight.
(14:04):
So nothing, I leave Fernando with the rest of the discussion.
Yes, there, along that same line, I wanted to go to both.
I ask them how important is what represents that sports sovereignty of Puerto
Rico y por el lado que estaba Hermes, nuestra identidad nacional que se ve representada
en un evento olímpico como este.
(14:25):
Yo me voy a tirar primero antes que él, porque sé que aquí vamos a chocar un
poquito, pero yo creo que.
It is urgent that people do enjoy the identity and that they feel very Boricua
so that everyone knows it.
But it's time to try to go further and to understand what that means for us as a society.
(14:49):
Beyond the joy of sports, you have to add the social elements that drag all that.
And this event is one more invitation, the one of so many that have happened,
so that people can combine those elements and use them to improve this society
that needs so many improvements.
(15:11):
And yes, sports sovereignty is important, but historically it has become a manipulation
instrument for multiple sectors.
From the point of view of those sports joys that I am pointing out,
Because they are used for manipulation and for many things that hinder social discussion.
And I think the importance that I identify with this event is the urgency that
(15:34):
we have as a country to link both things.
That is, that the sports joys and perhaps those sports nostalgias of the great
achievements of the country in previous events serve us to understand each other
more as a society and to look for solutions as a country.
Y yo creo que, de nuevo, trayendo el tema de las elecciones,
es un año crucial para nosotros y mirando al futuro, es momento ya,
(15:58):
¿verdad?, de entender que como sociedad el deporte significa mucho más que alegría deportiva.
Valga la redundancia. Hermes, ¿cómo te lo ves?
Voy más allá, nada más con mirar la cantidad de atletas que van a participar
en las Olimpiadas, más allá de cualquier debate que pueda haber,
(16:20):
te muestra cómo el deporte sigue siendo un factor de unión en un pueblo que ahora mismo,
no sé, si las elecciones fueran mañana,
a mí no me sorprendería ver mucha división. in how you vote, right?
(16:40):
But everyone is going to see the Ballon Sesto games and everyone is going to
see when Jasmine is going to run. And everyone is going to be aware of what
is going to happen in the Olympics.
And there you have a delegation that, José, I don't know if this is the largest delegation or not.
(17:00):
De Puerto Rico. Bueno, o sea, por lo menos después buscaremos el dato yo estoy
seguro que lo van a trabajar Ayola y Fernando pero por lo menos son un número
considerable de atletas más de los que participaron en Tokio.
Sí, entiendo que por ejemplo, mira en Sydney participaron 29 atletas,
(17:25):
en Tokio para darte un ejemplo For example, that was in 2000.
In Tokyo, where 37 participated. So, right now, how many would it be, José?
51. 51.
It's the biggest in 20 years. It's the biggest in 20 years.
(17:51):
So, if you start to see, even when the sandesh comes, This one of the media
commentary, this one that if they are boricua,
that if they are gringos, that is boricua, this one does not know how to speak Spanish,
that he does not like the mofongo, he prefers the hamburger.
Even with all that, they have a delegation of 50 athletes that, come on.
(18:19):
If they were formed in the United States, some or not, que quita que el papá
o la mamá no haya tirado una bolita aquí en una cancha.
So, algún tipo de formación vinculada con Puerto Rico hay.
Eso quiere decir que aún cuando viene un huracán y te descoñeta el país,
(18:39):
aún cuando viene una pandemia, aún cuando están los terremotos,
aún cuando viene el reguero de problemas y la mediocridad gubernamental y las
porquerías de cosas como Luma,
aún así los atletas de Puerto Rico van a estar allí con la delegación más grande
(19:00):
repartiendo el bacalao y dándote un poco de orgullo para que te rías antes de
que te metas al plebosta eleccionario para volver al papelón de cada cuatro años.
Digo, eso es si estadísticamente el gallo mío tiene chance, ¿verdad?
Pero entiendo que es un buen momento para porque cuando vengo de alguna medalla
(19:25):
ya tú sabes que no eso de que si es de aquí o es de allá tú sabes.
That's going to end, you know, people holding hands like the Puma to sing.
Hold on to your hands. But that is cyclical. That discussion always comes and
(19:45):
we always celebrate all together.
When the triumphs come, the debate with Gigi Fernández returns.
If it was the first medal, the first gold Puerto Rican.
All this is cyclical. But when Encarnación, when you were saying right now that
discourses are used, for example,
(20:05):
now they are talking about the stability with the Olympic Committee.
There is a candidate who has raised it like that. There is another candidate
who has said that this can be discussed at the moment.
I don't know if that's what you mean or what you meant.
No, bueno, esa es parte de las cosas, ¿verdad? Y también por otro más allá, ¿verdad?
(20:26):
De las figuras que representan la estadidad, los que se han aprovechado desde
la posición del status quo, ¿verdad?
Para seguir nutriendo el estatus actual, ¿verdad? Y tratar de defender que se puede, ¿verdad?
Vivir de esa identidad desde el punto de vista de esas alegrías o de esas capacidades
que tenemos a través del Comité Olímpico.
But it is again, that is, that it has become an instrument that is vulnerable
(20:50):
to political manipulation and that is not seen from a completely autonomous
position to what is the political scenario,
because it becomes a political baron, both for statists,
as for state bookmakers, as for independentists.
And it's up to people to position themselves on that and try to understand themselves
(21:11):
as individuals in the context of Olympism, beyond what they serve on the table,
the political characters of the colony.
It's a political ball, it's a political ball of identity.
To the point that I would like to know that if the state comes,
what would happen with the PNP?
Or do you think it is convenient for the political parties that the state is resolved?
(21:35):
So the hyperbole of all this, and much better still, with music,
fanfare, public, enjoying,
is the sports activity, which is what validates right now the Puerto Rican identity.
In fact, to the point that Floyd Meléndez says, this basketball ball is the
(21:56):
rifle that the country gave me to defend it. This is my army.
How is it? What did you say, José? That the basketball team was his army.
And it was the way to reproduce the entire Puerto Rican imagination through sports.
However, I interviewed Sara Rosario these days and she said that in these four
(22:18):
years, an administration of the New Progressive Party,
Governor Pierluisi had been very different in not questioning the fund assignment
that was established by law for the Olympic Committee.
A bit like letting it be seen that he could have been different because he was
(22:39):
a governor aligned to the PNP or a statesman,
no un poco batallar contra el olimpismo y esa identidad a través de los fondos y que no,
que este ecuatrino ya dijo que debía agradecer que habían sido muy diferentes
y todas las asignaciones habían llegado.
And it is important to highlight that before the Pierluisi administration,
(23:00):
in the context of the administration of Rosselló,
those payments that corresponded to the public fund copul had been frozen in
a period that seems to me that they totaled around 4 million that they owed
to the copul prior to being paid again.
Again, they paid them and that had repercussions, right?
From the administrative point of view in the Olympic Committee,
(23:20):
they had to make controversies and once that money came, they saw investments, right?
In what are youth projects. And there we have several examples of athletes who
left high school and quickly sent them to work in Spain or train in Spain.
So yes, there has been an answer, but that responds to other contexts of crisis of administrations,
(23:41):
equally estadista que no interpretaban el comité olímpico de la misma manera
en este caso la administración Rosselló y yo creo que ahí también se convierte en un balón político,
no creo que les convenga mucho porque aún dentro del grupo de los estadistas,
muchísimos puertorriqueños se sienten representados por los equipos independientemente
aquí estemos hablando de lo que puedan representar políticamente a nivel social.
(24:05):
Oye y hay que recordar algo Pipo venía de una contienda I had a face-to-face primary competition,
so it was better for him to break well with everyone in that matter of distributing the torticuli.
But also, I mean the torticuli, I mean the cake, because I know that the kids,
(24:27):
I know that there are people who are going to think that he was distributing diseases, but no.
Y segundo, pues, todos sabemos cuánta diplomacia siempre presenta Sara a la
hora de hacer esas afirmaciones.
Pero eso, cuando uno veía las redes sociales en algún punto,
(24:50):
no cercano, hace unos años atrás, al principio de la administración,
People within the state voices questioned that all those resources were being
facilitated to the Olympians.
Well, there was because the pitiyanquismo is like that, it's rancid,
it trots like crazy out there, you know what I mean?
(25:11):
I mean, when you lack identity self-esteem.
Any saint is good to pray for. So in that aspect, it becomes very easy to sell the homeland.
There is also an issue here of how the Olympic Committee is interpreted in this
(25:35):
case, which is an organization without profit, a private entity.
But what I wanted to get to is that there are people who interpret that sports
should be administered with private funds, that is,
they have to look for all the help from the private sector and that the athletes
represent an instrument of adding capital and that if they have 51 athletes,
(25:59):
they have 51 opportunities to capitalize on the highest economic level and that it is resolved.
But there are also those who interpret that sports is a country project,
a social project, and that through the development of people, through that way,
we can put an alternative on the table to get people forward and that people
identify those spaces as an alternative.
(26:21):
But, again, that vision of a country doesn't walk hand in hand with what we're
seeing in the communities,
with the abandoned parks, with the recreational facilities without attention
and without community sports projects that concentrate mostly in the metropolitan area,
(26:42):
the rest of the towns practically without activity at a youth level, at a child level.
And it's very difficult to sell a country project at a sporting level when in
the communities what there is in the park, the town is a drug point.
And that is very important because while we have one of the largest delegations
(27:03):
that we have had in all our history, I know that Jose is having a good time
too and I know that you are too.
Que me imagino que deben tener, igual que yo, el inbox lleno de gente diciendo,
no tan solo de problemas de administración de las facilidades,
sino de problemas de administración de los programas deportivos.
(27:28):
Y cuidado, tú sabes cuán grotesca se puede poner la cosa según la situación.
Y es bien interesante eso porque en momentos en que recibimos muchas quejas
de cómo se está trabajando el deporte de base, tenemos este grupo de atletas.
(27:48):
Una delegación superchula, grande, que va a representarnos en las Olimpiadas.
Sería muy bueno que tanto el DRD
como el COPUR pongan también bajo lupa el deporte de base en Puerto Rico.
Pero ahí viene el debate, Hermen y Fernando y Encarnación, de que esta delegación
(28:11):
es grande, pero son muchos atletas formados fuera de Puerto Rico.
Programas que no están, ¿verdad? El gobierno no estamos haciendo una inversión
social en ese deporte de base.
Entonces, son atletas que tienen una conexión con Puerto Rico a nivel familiar,
a nivel identitario, pero no se desarrollan aquí.
Entonces, ahí es que vino primero el huevo o la gallina.
(28:33):
Y es importante ahora que señala eso, Ayola, porque por ejemplo,
al COPUN no le corresponde of the development of athletes in Puerto Rico.
And many times that statement that comes from the political sector towards an
organization like COPUR, that we are giving a lot of money and athletes are
not being developed in the yard, is an empty statement because COPUR does not
correspond to that responsibility.
(28:55):
That responsibility falls on the organizations of the base and the federations.
Corren de manera autónoma a lo que es la administración del Comité Olímpico.
Así que el Comité Olímpico es una cosa, cada federación es un mundo aparte y
lo que ocurre en las comunidades son otros 20 pesos.
Entonces yo creo que por eso es que es una gran oportunidad para la gente posicionarse aquí,
(29:17):
porque hay que entender que hay que regresar a los parques y a las canchas de
comunidad a hacer trabajo comunitario, no a cobrarle 100 pesos a papá y a mamá
para enseñarle a jugar un nene o una nena X o Y deporte.
O sea, hay que regresar a hacer trabajo, o sea, de voluntariado,
o sea, enseñarle a los nenes a jugar, a hacer deporte o a reconocer una alternativa en el deporte.
(29:41):
Es una responsabilidad de nosotros como individuos en este país.
Y entonces, dada la crisis que estamos enfrentando, lamentablemente,
un montón de personas en los barrios y en las comunidades, pues están buscándose
el dinero desde mi punto de vista,
de una manera que es bastante injusta para muchas familias en este país.
(30:02):
Y los chamaquitos terminan cansándose de ese modelo.
O sea, de que los traten como nenes de 5 o 7 años compitiendo con una mentalidad
centrada en ganar todo el tiempo
y hay que pagarle al coach 100 pesos para enseñarle a jugar al nene.
Y yo creo que eso rompe con todo lo que representa una participación como la
(30:23):
que vamos a tener en París y por eso es tan importante pensar un poco más allá
de lo que representa esta delegación.
Que sí, son muchos de la diáspora, pero precisamente por eso es que es importante.
Porque eso nos está diciendo que tenemos que mantener esa conexión con ellos
allá, en cualquier parte del mundo que se encuentren, y también rescatarnos
a nosotros mismos, que es lo que no estamos haciendo como sociedad.
(30:45):
Sí, eso que menciona José es bien importante. Yo estaba viendo los otros días
un podcast de los exjugadores de baloncesto,
Filiberto Rivera y Ari Verde, que ellos enfatizan mucho en eso,
en el desarrollo de los menores y en que muchas veces, tanto los padres como los dirigentes,
se enfocan en la competencia y no en que se lo disfruten ellos,
(31:07):
en que se vayan desarrollando en el deporte desde pequeños, disfrutándose la
disciplina, sea cual sea, el béisbol, baloncesto, etc.
Que es importante destacar eso y en que se disfruten lo que están haciendo y
esa es parte del desarrollo no inculcarles desde pequeños una disciplina que todo es ganar,
ganar, ganar para que entonces cuando sean grandes se puedan desarrollar bien
(31:31):
en la disciplina que estén por eso esa participación del equipo femenino de
baloncesto es tan importante para el país,
por lo que representa cada una de esas muchachas para todo el mundo aquí en Puerto Rico.
O sea, moliendo vidrio con el pecho literalmente.
Y lo que representa para ese staff técnico, para figuras como Jerry Batista,
(31:54):
que están metiendo manos en la LAI, o sea, sin recursos.
Buscando de donde aparezcan oportunidades para tratar de sacar el mejor talento posible.
Y lo lograron. Y así se repite con un montón de ejemplos de atletas.
El caso de Jerón Vega es fantástico. I mean, Jerón Vega threw the hammer in
(32:14):
a neighborhood in the Sabana de Luquillo until yesterday, until the other days, and he's in Paris.
He had to go cut grass, do a lot of things. These are things that one,
imagine if he had the resources.
Yes. Hey, the case of Jerry Batista, I mean, the one of Jerón, tremendous.
The one of Jerry Batista, I saw him since he started.
(32:38):
And I saw up close everything that happened, all the problems he had,
the personal situations he overcame.
And it's been years, it's been years, just like Jose says, grinding glass with
his chest to get to where he is. The case of Pamela Rosado.
I mean, if we're going to look for someone to equip the figure of Piculín for
(32:59):
me in women's basketball, I think Pamela Rosado is a Hall of Famer hands down.
I mean, in terms of the importance of his figure with respect to the team.
A veteran who deserves to be there.
So, beyond all those athletes that formed there,
(33:21):
the mere fact that there is a Jeroen Vega, a Pamela Rosado, a Jerry Batista,
a Yola, that in and of itself should make the Puerto Ricans happy.
Y a las puertorriqueñas.
Y yo quería traer un punto, mencionan al baloncesto femenino y es el deporte
femenino. Esta delegación cuenta con muchísimas atletas mujeres.
(33:45):
Nuestras dos medallas de oro son dos medallas de atletas femeninas.
Cuando vemos, hablamos de las olimpiadas como en el tema político,
pues tendemos a pensar en el político, en el tema de estatus,
pero también hay políticas sobre la mujer, sobre el empoderamiento de la mujer.
¿Qué dice que en el olimpismo la mujer esté sacando la cara por el deporte? ¿Cómo lo ven ustedes?
(34:12):
Bueno, o sea, lo mismo que hemos dicho hasta ahora.
O sea, si bien el deporte a nivel general de las categorías menores está prácticamente
abandonado desde ese punto de vista formativo, imagínate con las niñas.
O sea, es triple, cuatro veces más difícil que lleguen al nivel que puede llegar
una Adriana Díaz, Yasmín.
(34:34):
Y habla también de lo que representa a la mujer para nosotros como sociedad.
O sea, nosotros estamos en un país donde todas las semanas estamos viendo noticias
sumamente alarmantes sobre el trato a la mujer.
I don't have enough words to try to articulate a reflection that reaches the
(34:56):
level or does justice to what the participation represents, that is,
of a woman who has developed in the patio here in the last 20 years.
It is to think about it, right? That I reached a level without the resources,
as a Pamela Rosado has done, y con las responsabilidades que hay que asumir
más allá de lo deportivo.
Las que son madres, las que tienen que trabajar yo no sé cuántas horas para
(35:19):
poderse costear el entrenamiento, dietistas...
They work twice, three times more than any male athlete of that same level.
Yes, Fernando, you have on the agenda to talk about important Olympic moments.
And I think that when we talk about important Olympic moments.
Yamin, Mónica, there are some.
(35:41):
I don't know if you have more or want to bring other points with the companions.
Yes, I also wanted to add a fact.
Now, to take advantage of a moment that we were talking about equity this morning
in the metro, we published a note where it says that studies are increasingly
more and more equal in the Olympic Games.
(36:02):
In this Olympiad of Paris, there are 157 male events and 152 female events that
are increasingly balancing a little there.
And going back to the events, I wanted, in these historical events that have
marked our sports history, I wanted Jose and Hermes to give us one.
But I remember, maybe people always talk about the victory of Mónica, the victory of Jasmine.
(36:30):
But to me, one that marked me a lot was the false exit of Javier Coulson.
Because everyone was waiting for that medal. I remember I was in the newsroom,
at that time I was working in a radio station, watching the race and suddenly
when the false exit was given, nobody knew what had happened.
(36:50):
They say there was a false exit and no one knew who it was, until they said Javier Coulson.
And that was how we were from above, we were going to see Javier Coulson,
everyone was in shock, we saw the race and it didn't matter who won.
And then to see David Coulson in the press area crying, for me it was a moment
that marked me and I would also like you to share with us some moments that
(37:15):
you remember from the Olympics.
Well, I agree with you, I remember perfectly.
Of Coulson, and yes, as you say, it was like from the top with C to the top
with S, and that also speaks, right, of what Coulson represented for us,
and what he represents for us,
(37:36):
and that moment also served us to see the most human side of the athlete,
Javier Coulson, there was a time that the only thing that was talked about was
Javier Coulson, the participation in the Diamond League, and that moment,
well, it was like This is the gold that we've been looking for at the Olympic
level with Coulson Cevada.
And we were quite cruel with him after that chapter in his life.
(38:00):
And I think he's been teaching us until today what an athlete has to assimilate.
Once things don't go as expected.
And that speaks of his character and speaks of what, through all his years,
since he started defending the colors of the Catholic in La Lai,
pues demostró, ¿verdad?
Que es la entrega y el coraje de un atleta de ese nivel.
(38:22):
Y nos dio una gran lección y yo la tesoro todavía hoy, a pesar de que sufrí bastante.
Y creo que todos los que estaban a mi alrededor aquel día en casa de abuela
también porque hicimos una comida y todo eso.
Pero sí, fue más allá que la desilusión. Fue una gran lección.
Se sufrió, se sufrió ahí. But Javier too, what he did is Twitter and social media.
(38:48):
Because remember that with the arrival of social media, anyone who hasn't played
with Caquita in the cradle can come and criticize. Dude, run.
You know what I mean? You know.
And well, Coulson was tweeting. I hope they take away the cell phones from the athletes.
(39:11):
Zara, look for a case and put all the cell phones there, give them to the T-Mobile,
since they're giving you the office, give them to Jorgito Martel,
and when everything is over, give them back to him.
A historical moment, Espinal, Espinal, that I didn't expect,
(39:35):
and the guy was going from less to more, from less to more, and boom, he hit the jackpot.
Silver medal to London, right? London.
I also wanted to get there, those London Olympics, all the pressure was on Coulson
and the element of social media, media campaigns were made,
(39:55):
the country paralyzed to see it and there is also a pressure on the emotional,
psychological athlete, Mientras que Espinal no tenía el foco sobre él,
nadie lo estaba mirando, vino inspirado y ganó.
Igual que la medalla de Mónica, son cosas que en el análisis y en los papeles,
(40:16):
ella no podía prever que iba a hacer esa medalla, pero vino inspirada y ganó.
Cómo la presión mental de la audiencia de representar a un país también es un
elemento a tomar en consideración, y lo hablábamos con Sara Rosario la semana pasada,
ella decía que el comité les está dando algún apoyo en términos de también psicólogos
(40:40):
deportivos, pero que cada atleta o cada equipo tiene también su equipo de trabajo en esa área.
Hablaba de lo de las redes sociales, no llegó a decir si le iban a quitar los
celulares, pero yo me imagino, ¿no?
Por ejemplo, ahora nosotros como medio de comunicación estuvimos buscando hacer
entrevistas puntuales con atletas y no se han dado. Y eso no está mal, ¿no?
(41:03):
Porque estas entrevistas lo que hacen es generarle presión a ellos,
pienso yo. No sé cómo ustedes lo ven.
Sí, yo coincido, ¿verdad? Tiene un impacto a nivel psicológico,
definitivamente. O sea, yo no tengo la más mínima duda de eso.
Pero también habla de lo que debe ser ese proceso formativo de los atletas en el contexto actual.
Porque si bien es una distracción todo esto que está ocurriendo con las redes
(41:27):
sociales, Well, you shouldn't use these heights of history as something to justify any stumbling block.
It's something with which we have to coexist and it's something that you have
to face from that corner.
It's not easy at all. One is saying it here, shooting crazy bullets,
but it's something with which the athlete should prepare in the present.
(41:51):
Sexuality and it's something that they are facing continuously,
that is to say, that you shouldn't focus only on the physical aspect,
but you also have to go to the mental gym continuously and they are things that go hand in hand.
Hermes also had a medal, it was Olympic, right? Daniel, Daniel Santos was a boxer. Daniel Santos.
(42:11):
Daniel Santos, I don't know if it was 92 or 96.
Atlanta was 9-6. Yes. Yes, Daniel Santos.
I had the opportunity to cover Daniel as a professional, including the fight
with Jory Boy Campa in Las Vegas.
(42:32):
And, you know, the boxers prior to the 21st century, they were the boxers, those who took the face.
I mentioned Aníbal Acevedo right now, but also for the example of Daniel Santos.
And they were all bronze medals.
I don't know if there is one of silver, I would have to check well,
(42:54):
but almost all of them were bronze.
What speaks very well of the Boxing Federation and the boxers and the boxing talent,
and what has happened in this new century, pues habla también muy bien del desarrollo
de Puerto Rico en los otros deportes, particularmente el atletismo,
(43:19):
porque si bien es cierto que Jasmine es formada afuera, Coulson no,
Coulson es producto de la LAI.
Y entonces pues algo se está haciendo bien, o algo se ha hecho bien.
Y una de las posibilidades de medalla para París que se ha hablado es de Calo, ¿no? Sí, con Aiden.
(43:43):
Y Aiden vino, se mudó para Puerto Rico también.
Si bien se están haciendo señalamientos de que se desarrolló allá,
vino a prepararse acá a Puerto Rico hace meses y se estableció acá por voluntad propia.
O sea, quería estar aquí, quería desarrollarse aquí, quería enriquecer ese sentido de identidad.
(44:04):
Y eso habla de lo que viene señalando Hermes hace un rato y de la necesidad
que tenemos de reconocer que hay que fortalecer todos esos espacios para garantizar
que no solo los que vienen de allá para acá tengan,
todo lo necesario para competir al más alto nivel, sino que los que están aquí
pues también se puedan desarrollar y después no estar pidiéndole o rindiéndole
(44:25):
cuentas al Copol porque no invierten un desarrollo que no le corresponde,
Y hablando de A mí me gusta Adriana Díaz,
Do you think you can get inspired?
She has won, in these days, she won the number two in the world.
I don't know, I like it. I think it's something.
(44:47):
But Adriana is another figure who has the pressure of the country on her since she was a little girl.
Impressive how she has handled it.
I'm sure she's one of the best people who can shed light on how an athlete can
channel all that pressure.
Because if someone has channeled it well and used it, from what we see here,
(45:12):
she looks like a great example of it.
About boxing, it has always caught my attention how that has changed in recent
years, how it is so difficult for us now to put boxers at the level of fans
who arrive at the Olympics.
And I think it talks about both the market of boxing at a professional level,
(45:33):
as well as what other disciplines have been representing.
Other disciplines, that is, already going up a ring, one does not go up to play,
one literally is playing life as they say, the skin is played every time you
go up to the ring and you have a.
Slightly light perception of what boxing is out there on the street,
that because we do not have so many boxers, well,
(45:55):
I think there was a figure here quite important for the sport,
de que era el señor Fufi Santori que fue un crítico bastante,
fuerte con el boxeo por lo que representaba para los jóvenes desde el punto
de vista económico como los más pobres,
que lo subían ahí a darte cantazo y si tú eras bueno dando puños,
(46:16):
pues entonces ahí tenemos un gran atleta, yo creo que superamos eso,
y a mí me parece importante que lo hayamos superado, el que quiera ser boxeador,
más allá de los que asumen el reto a nivel aficionado, que se lance el profesionalismo
y lo haga ganándose un buen dinero,
para que because then he will suffer the impacts of the system's abandonment.
A cool little fact about boxing, Juanma López Jr.
(46:41):
He competed 20 years after his father competed.
We hope that he doesn't have to face any betting referee in that cross and that he can move forward.
Y en el boxeo también tenemos representación femenina. Así que vamos a ver esa
acción también en boxeo masculino y femenino.
(47:05):
El nene Steven Piñeiro en la pasada Olimpiada hizo una buena representación.
¿Esperan que también vuelva a meterse en ese top de atletas este año en París?
Sí, yo creo que sí. Yo creo que Steven ha hecho un buen trabajo a lo largo de
todo el ciclo. y es uno de esos que calladitos está sumando y moviéndose para
(47:29):
tratar de estar al más alto nivel.
Yo creo que no solo él, desde esa esquina, hay otros atletas,
a mí me parece, por ejemplo, el caso de Rachel de Orbetta en marcha es sorprendente.
Independientemente, no se sube al podio. O sea, el mero hecho de que tengamos
una marchista a nivel olímpico con las implicaciones que tiene eso a lo largo
(47:51):
de todo el ciclo olímpico I
mean, with extremely expensive trips to places very far away, it's brutal.
I mean, I think we have to develop another podium, that comes out of the traditional podium,
and try to identify those participations in non-traditional disciplines,
and go up to the podium, to those athletes that manage to participate there,
(48:15):
and, for example, improve personal marks.
I think that's also an exercise that the same delegation deserves.
That's a very interesting case, Rachel's case, because she was dribbling a series of situations,
specifically with the help and that, and I understand that it was a very good
(48:44):
development until she arrived in Paris.
So, en un caso, es un caso que como dice José, el mero hecho de que tengamos
una marchista ahí, de que salga esa muchacha a enalbolar la monoestrellada,
el mero hecho de que eso pase...
One that maybe knows more or less how to beat the backstage copper and the things
(49:06):
that can, the bays that he had to jump, and he's a marxist, he's not 400 with bays,
the bays that he had to jump to get where he is, that in itself gratifies him.
I understand that the other banderado, in addition to Jasmine,
is in Lucha, Judo, and that it is proposed that he has possibilities of medals, Fernando.
(49:28):
Sí, sí, ahora se me escapó el nombre, pero sí, es uno de los deportes de combate.
Seba Rivera, Seba Rivera, Sebastián Rivera. Sebastián Rivera, sí.
También hay deportes que se estrenan en este ciclo, Fernando, ¿querías hablar de eso?
Sí, yo quería aprovechar, ¿verdad?, que tenemos aquí a Hermes Ayala,
(49:50):
que es tanto periodista deportivo y periodista en múltiples temas,
como también es de la cultura del hip hop, which represents inclusion, right?
We were talking about skateboarding right now, now between the breaking and
the Olympics, what does this represent for the culture of hip hop,
the inclusion of this sport at the Olympic level?
(50:12):
Well, I find it very interesting that this has been achieved,
it is an achievement, not only, I say, for the culture of hip hop,
but for any cualquier movimiento alternativo subterráneo que tenga que ver con deportes y con cultura.
Va por la misma línea quizás del skate y del surfing, pero el hecho de que sea un deporte, ¿verdad?
(50:42):
Que se combine con música. Yo no sé si, ¿qué iría ahí también?
¿Gimnasia sería lo otro? ¿Qué es así? ¿Gimnasia, ritmo? Gimnasia and synchronized swimming.
When you come to see them, they are traditionally sports from a society sector,
(51:06):
perhaps very different from what hip hop would be,
because they are sports that are developed in sectors of greater economic power,
of an economic power that is not precisely the one with which hip hop is related, that breaking,
(51:31):
the same hip hop culture comes from the neighborhoods, right?
It comes from the marginal sectors as a tool of expression.
And seeing that is something that fills you with a lot of joy,
particularly when one has worked that art in some way,
(51:52):
and a lot of respect for the b-boys, a lot of respect for the girls,
for the DJs, for the graffiti artists, you have to understand that this breaking
sport is part of one of four elements of hip-hop,
which would be the b-boys, so So seeing it is something that gives a lot of joy, I feel.
(52:13):
Well, for the people, for the benefit of those who are watching and listening,
I'm going to review quickly the events or disciplines where Puerto Rico is going
to have representation.
In athletics, 100 metros vallas, Yasmín Camacho Queen. Lucha,
Sebastián Rivera. Boxing, Ashley Anlosada.
Indela, Pedro Luis Fernández.
(52:34):
Clavado, Maisey Vieta. Clavado, too, Emanuel Vázquez.
En baloncesto la selección femenina y la selección masculina en lucha darían cruz ethan ramos yo,
no va smith en boxeo juanma
lópez tiro con arco alondra ribera en atletismo el décalo andy owens en tenis
(52:55):
de mesa adriana díaz golf rafael campo va a estar allá tenis de mesa también
va a estar en afanador daniel gonzález tiro de rifle tres posiciones yarimar
mercado atletismo 400 metros,
Glaze Claxton en atletismo, Salto Alto Luis Joel Castro,
en atletismo Marsha, Rachel de Orbetta en atletismo, 400 metros,
(53:18):
Gabby Scott en lanzamiento de martillo, Jerome Vega 100 metros,
Gladimar Torres y la selección de baloncesto masculino así que esos son los
atletas que estarán vistiendo los colores de Puerto Rico en las olimpiadas algún
comentario final antes de despedirnos compañeros,
recordarle o recalcarle a la gente que cada participación o que cada vez que
(53:43):
vean a uno de los atletas del patio allá pues.
Reconozcan los sacrificios que conllevó llegar a ese nivel en el marco de los
retos que estamos enfrentando nosotros en el Puerto Rico de hoy y de lo que
los más pequeñitos merecen de cara al futuro.
That when they see the basketball team, both female and male,
(54:06):
they remember the neighborhood court, they remember the school court,
they remember the manager who charges them 200 pesos, 150 pesos for teaching
them to play a 5-year-old boy, and the same with other disciplines.
And that they problematize it or internalize it, that they reflect on each participation
beyond the Chiji Chija Deportivo.
(54:26):
Mr. Ayala, Master Jedi.
Well, well.
Jose said it more nicely than I can say it.
It's time to sit down and break the night.
What's the difference in time? Six hours.
(54:46):
How much? Six hours. Six hours, so there's going to be a lot of early morning
competition and all that.
Yes. Ah, well, you know, early on, make the coffee, or if you're one of those
who goes to three beer boxes, like I did, watching a basketball game,
take advantage of it, it has an excuse.
(55:08):
And call your family, because there's nothing better than seeing a Puerto Rican
Olympic triumph with your dad by your side, with your mom, with your children,
with your family, because they're little things that happen four times.
There are two things that will happen every four years. One more paperweight than the other.
(55:29):
One better than the other. There is the fiasco of this election,
which is every four years, and there is the Olympic joy.
Put it on the scale and go for the Olympic joy.
And then when November arrives, you know, try to vote for the alternatives that...
That they go to Huira, Hermes, to Huira.
(55:53):
Well, both for the Olympic activity and for the electoral activity from here
to November, Metro is going to have a full coverage.
Here our web editor Fernando Collazo is already filling, assembling the content
blocks in all the digital platforms.
Digitales, Encarnación, te leemos en el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo y
(56:17):
también pueden ver todas esas piezas a través de Metro Puerto Rico.
Hermes, te vemos en Guapa Televisión, te escuchamos en las plataformas digitales
con tu música y ya estaremos entonces dialogando sobre toda tu actividad.
Instagram, Instagram, pendiente que agosto, septiembre serán trascendentales.
(56:41):
Y que la gente recuerde allá que el
deporte es la esencia para una mejor vida como decía el águila Tony Sánchez
así mismo es no hay forma mejor de cerrar este podcast gracias a todos gracias
Fernando a nuestros amigos de Metropuerto Rico los invitamos a que se mantengan
conectados a todas nuestras plataformas digitales.
Saludos amigos de Metro Puerto Rico. Les acompaña Ayola Vireya,
editora en jefe del periódico Metro, en un nuevo episodio del podcast con los editores.
Esta semana que comienza el 22 de julio, aunque usted escuche este podcast, ¿verdad?
A su conveniencia, es semana de muchos eventos noticiosos. En Puerto Rico,
(00:39):
semana de vacaciones, muchos días festivos.
A nivel político, se celebra el 25 de julio, que es la conmemoración del Estado Libre Asociado.
También se observa un evento político en Puerto Rico, ¿verdad?
Con los asesinatos políticos del Cerro Maravilla.
El 27 de julio, los estadistas celebran también el natalicio de José Celso Barbosa.
(01:04):
A nivel de noticias de actualidad en Estados Unidos, mucho movimiento con la
salida de la candidatura de Joe Biden,
pero a nivel deportivo en el fin de semana, inicia un evento que cada cuatro
años une a los países deportivamente y son las Olimpiadas este año en París.
(01:26):
Y para dialogar sobre cómo Puerto Rico llega a estas olimpiadas,
qué representa el olimpismo, sobre todo para nosotros los puertorriqueños,
me acompañan tres grandes colegas periodistas.
Sumo a esta conversación al editor web de Metro Puerto Rico,
Fernando Collazo. Saludos, Fernando.
¿Cómo estás? Saludos, Ayola, y saludos también, que ahora lo vamos a presentar
(01:49):
a Hermes y Encarnación, que estamos aquí como en los viejos tiempos otra vez.
Exacto. Vamos a estar compartiendo con periodistas que son grandes colegas y
que ustedes conocen porque han participado por muchos años y han sido parte
de lo que es Metro Puerto Rico.
Por nosotros, Hermes Ayala, pasado editor, coordinador del calce.com,
(02:09):
periodista investigativo, periodista deportivo, artista y ahora uno de los investigadores
de Cuarto Poder y de Los Datos son los Datos. Saludos, Hermes, ¿cómo te encuentras?
Saludos, saludos para mí. Es una honra volver a verlos ustedes.
Mira, Fernando, ya estoy bien, que la otra vez no pude ir para el cárcel porque me estaba operando.
(02:32):
Pero aquí estamos, vamos a hablar de deporte. Gracias por llamarme para hablar
de deporte, que estoy...
Que es algo que trabajé durante, wow, las primeras dos décadas de mi carrera,
diría yo, y es un tema que siempre tengo muy cerca de mi corazón.
(02:53):
Y vamos a estar hablando de esas primeras dos décadas y lo que cubriste,
porque cubriste ciclos olímpicos, pero también quiero sumar a la conversación
al colega periodista investigador en el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.
He's been with us for many years, he's also a sports journalist, he's been on ESPN.
José Encarnación, hello José, you're on mute.
(03:17):
Welcome to this podcast with the editors.
Hello Ayola, hello Fernando and hello to Papa Hermes. So, I'm happy to be with
you again, as in the old days.
Well, we wanted to have both of you because both of you have a vast knowledge
en lo que es la cobertura deportiva y tienen el contexto político,
(03:37):
histórico de lo que significa para Puerto Rico el olimpismo.
Fernando ha estado cubriendo también las bases deportivas en nuestros espacios
en metro y Fernando ha delineado una agenda de hoy, de los temas que vamos a
tocar, así que dejo el timón aquí a Fernando Collazo.
Gracias, Ayola. I would like to start, right, talking to Hermes and Jose about
(04:04):
the experiences they have had covering various sports cycles, Olympic cycles.
Hermes, if you could give me a little summary of the journalistic trajectory
that you have had and what have been those sports events that have marked you
the most, que hay múltiples desde el 2004 hacia acá,
llevamos casi dos décadas de que estás cubriendo aquí diversas plataformas como
(04:30):
tuvimos una conversación anteriormente.
No, yo diría que desde el 2000.
Since 2000, I would say that I have been covering the Olympics.
I remember that the first Olympic team of boxers that came to El Bocero,
(04:55):
that came from Maracaibo, that had participated in Maracaibo and then also in Winnipeg, 9899-2000.
Those were my first experiences with what the Olympics was like when my father
in the sports journalism, José Manuel Irán Martínez's grandfather,
(05:18):
managed to get me to the world,
coming from Diálogo when I was 20 years old.
And that's when I started to see what the Olympics was like.
And the most thing that caught my attention was that team of boxers.
Because from where I am, from Vega Baja, there was a boxer who won a bronze
(05:39):
medal, that was Aníbal Acevedo.
And then, well, there I could see this group of boxers that I have,
it seems to me that Miguel Cotto was in that,
I'm looking for it here, but it seems to me that Miguel Cotto was in that team,
if it wasn't from 2000, was from 96,
(06:02):
but I understand that Cotto was there, yes, in 2000, in that Olympic team.
I think that Iván Calderón too.
Let me, I don't think, no, Iván, yes, Iván Calderón was also in that team.
So, not just those boxers that for me were the first ones that caught my attention,
(06:27):
but to understand beyond what I had already covered with respect to athleticism,
which at that time was the LAI.
To understand well how the athleticism federation worked. I tell you, super rookie one.
And then the basketball team, which I think didn't compete that year in Sydney.
(06:53):
But I was already working with them, what were international competitions that
would lead to Olympic participation.
Because from 2000 to 2004 I covered all that cycle with the national team.
Except for 2004, which I still tell him to go.
I tell him to go to the one who was my boss, who didn't send me.
(07:17):
Because everyone knows the big game of Puerto Rico with the United States.
But... Hey, Hermes, and excuse me for interrupting you, your coverage of that
Olympic cycle, when we went to coordinate, and I call you, in my mind,
in my imagination, was that you had been in Athens.
(07:38):
Because even though you didn't travel there, but you were covering the cycle. Yes, yes, yes.
I was covering it from here, right? So...
It was a bit of a bitter game, because we won, yes, right? but I had done the
whole cycle and I couldn't go, but of course, one understands already,
(07:58):
as one advances in this profession, that there are things that one does not control.
At that moment, the newspaper in which I worked was going through some quite
interesting economic processes,
but that did not take away from the fact that one could not be a participant
in that, to the point that I have always had in my mind a project in Sierne,
(08:21):
in Sierne eternal, Because I've never been able to, I've never been able to
realize a solid proposal.
But after working on what was New York Rican Basket, working a little on the
investigation and in the media consultancy,
together with, together with, together with, oh my God, together with Olivero and Dr.
(08:48):
Julio César Torres, I had in mind a question that was called the cry of Athens,
thinking specifically about that game of Puerto Rico against the United States.
So, that's just what tells you the importance that for me the Puerto Rican Olympism has.
(09:10):
And even more, let's go now to what is the celebration of the Puerto Rican national identity.
Because while it is true that the game is so-and-so, or the sports activity
is so-and-so, or Tito Trinidad can come and have a fight every now and then, Amanda Serrano, right?
(09:34):
And there are also other activities, right? Musicals, cultural,
including Miss Universe and all that.
It's very rare that it happens during a whole month that the Puerto Rican identity
is being exalted as it is going to happen now, from this weekend when the games start.
(09:56):
Speaking of what is going to happen now, Encarnación, listening to Hermes,
and Hermes has been your mentor,
right, also in what is sports journalism, ¿Qué tú proyectas a nivel deportivo
e identitario que va a pasar entonces en estas próximas semanas?
Bueno, yo creo que estos juegos tienen una importancia bien particular por varios aspectos, ¿verdad?
(10:19):
Desde el punto de vista deportivo, pues hay que destacar lo que va a suceder, ¿verdad?
Con las dos selecciones de baloncesto, es la primera ocasión que la federación
logra llevar los dos equipos a un evento olímpico. I think that from a sporting
point of view, it draws attention, but at a social level, it says much more
than we can sportively highlight.
(10:40):
What it represents is that female selection, in the framework of that eternal
fight they carry for receiving funds in the same way that the male team receives them,
that receiving the deals that the male team receives, is reflected in their
performance, it says a lot.
And in the same way, the efforts that they managed to channel in the male team
(11:03):
to return to that sitial that since 2004 we did not enjoy it and now we are going to enjoy it.
And it is an election year and you should not lose perspective.
Here there is a sector that usually discards the possibility of linking the
sports discussion at the Olympic level with what happens at the political level.
(11:24):
And I think that in our context, from the colonial aspect, both things walk
hand in hand, even when politically that identity that Hermes points out,
many times it is politically hindered.
But it doesn't stop being important, because it talks about what,
even from the corner of the reasonless, to call it that.
(11:47):
Because that identity is latent in some way, and that, for me, is important.
And nothing, I mean, I think that the participation of the diaspora also speaks.
I mean, both basketball teams, for example, are characterized by being very
similar to the case that he pointed out to me from the New York team and Can Basket,
from that connection that Puerto Ricans have in the United States,
(12:11):
which are second, third generation,
and they are connected with us.
One of the main figures, José Alvarado, feels Puerto Rican and we saw it in
his participation here in Puerto Rico, how he lived those games.
And also the case of Aiden Owens, Yasmín Camacho.
Again, the diaspora trying to establish those connections. I think that speaks a lot.
(12:34):
Yes, sportively, but I think the importance that stands out the most in these
Olympic Games is what speaks at the social level. O sea que hay un montón de mensajes, ¿verdad?
Que están ahí sobre la mesa y que merecen una interpretación y más un año electoral
o eleccionario como el que vamos a vivir este año.
(12:55):
Se me da agua en los ojos y siento el aura de Elios Castro bendiciéndonos ahora mismo.
No, yo escucho a Encarnación y quería compartir una pequeña anécdota.
We meet at the production level about how the Olympics coverage will be and
we meet, Metro is part of an international conglomerate, we meet with the editors
(13:20):
of different countries to organize the work.
And when we are going to enter that meeting, I am with Fernando and they tell
us, ah, Puerto Rico, in this, in this, yes, in this, yes, they are a country.
And it's like shocking, right? For this, this, this is an event where we have
sovereignty and we are represented as a country.
(13:43):
How do the rest of the countries see us in that global context?
Because sometimes, sometimes when we are interacting, they don't know how to
refer to us, right? They are part of the United States, but they are not,
but they are a country, but they speak Spanish.
And this colloquial thing that they say, ah, no, in this they are a country,
has an incredible weight.
(14:04):
So nothing, I leave Fernando with the rest of the discussion.
Yes, there, along that same line, I wanted to go to both.
I ask them how important is what represents that sports sovereignty of Puerto
Rico y por el lado que estaba Hermes, nuestra identidad nacional que se ve representada
en un evento olímpico como este.
(14:25):
Yo me voy a tirar primero antes que él, porque sé que aquí vamos a chocar un
poquito, pero yo creo que.
It is urgent that people do enjoy the identity and that they feel very Boricua
so that everyone knows it.
But it's time to try to go further and to understand what that means for us as a society.
(14:49):
Beyond the joy of sports, you have to add the social elements that drag all that.
And this event is one more invitation, the one of so many that have happened,
so that people can combine those elements and use them to improve this society
that needs so many improvements.
(15:11):
And yes, sports sovereignty is important, but historically it has become a manipulation
instrument for multiple sectors.
From the point of view of those sports joys that I am pointing out,
Because they are used for manipulation and for many things that hinder social discussion.
And I think the importance that I identify with this event is the urgency that
(15:34):
we have as a country to link both things.
That is, that the sports joys and perhaps those sports nostalgias of the great
achievements of the country in previous events serve us to understand each other
more as a society and to look for solutions as a country.
Y yo creo que, de nuevo, trayendo el tema de las elecciones,
es un año crucial para nosotros y mirando al futuro, es momento ya,
(15:58):
¿verdad?, de entender que como sociedad el deporte significa mucho más que alegría deportiva.
Valga la redundancia. Hermes, ¿cómo te lo ves?
Voy más allá, nada más con mirar la cantidad de atletas que van a participar
en las Olimpiadas, más allá de cualquier debate que pueda haber,
(16:20):
te muestra cómo el deporte sigue siendo un factor de unión en un pueblo que ahora mismo,
no sé, si las elecciones fueran mañana,
a mí no me sorprendería ver mucha división. in how you vote, right?
(16:40):
But everyone is going to see the Ballon Sesto games and everyone is going to
see when Jasmine is going to run. And everyone is going to be aware of what
is going to happen in the Olympics.
And there you have a delegation that, José, I don't know if this is the largest delegation or not.
(17:00):
De Puerto Rico. Bueno, o sea, por lo menos después buscaremos el dato yo estoy
seguro que lo van a trabajar Ayola y Fernando pero por lo menos son un número
considerable de atletas más de los que participaron en Tokio.
Sí, entiendo que por ejemplo, mira en Sydney participaron 29 atletas,
(17:25):
en Tokio para darte un ejemplo For example, that was in 2000.
In Tokyo, where 37 participated. So, right now, how many would it be, José?
51. 51.
It's the biggest in 20 years. It's the biggest in 20 years.
(17:51):
So, if you start to see, even when the sandesh comes, This one of the media
commentary, this one that if they are boricua,
that if they are gringos, that is boricua, this one does not know how to speak Spanish,
that he does not like the mofongo, he prefers the hamburger.
Even with all that, they have a delegation of 50 athletes that, come on.
(18:19):
If they were formed in the United States, some or not, que quita que el papá
o la mamá no haya tirado una bolita aquí en una cancha.
So, algún tipo de formación vinculada con Puerto Rico hay.
Eso quiere decir que aún cuando viene un huracán y te descoñeta el país,
(18:39):
aún cuando viene una pandemia, aún cuando están los terremotos,
aún cuando viene el reguero de problemas y la mediocridad gubernamental y las
porquerías de cosas como Luma,
aún así los atletas de Puerto Rico van a estar allí con la delegación más grande
(19:00):
repartiendo el bacalao y dándote un poco de orgullo para que te rías antes de
que te metas al plebosta eleccionario para volver al papelón de cada cuatro años.
Digo, eso es si estadísticamente el gallo mío tiene chance, ¿verdad?
Pero entiendo que es un buen momento para porque cuando vengo de alguna medalla
(19:25):
ya tú sabes que no eso de que si es de aquí o es de allá tú sabes.
That's going to end, you know, people holding hands like the Puma to sing.
Hold on to your hands. But that is cyclical. That discussion always comes and
(19:45):
we always celebrate all together.
When the triumphs come, the debate with Gigi Fernández returns.
If it was the first medal, the first gold Puerto Rican.
All this is cyclical. But when Encarnación, when you were saying right now that
discourses are used, for example,
(20:05):
now they are talking about the stability with the Olympic Committee.
There is a candidate who has raised it like that. There is another candidate
who has said that this can be discussed at the moment.
I don't know if that's what you mean or what you meant.
No, bueno, esa es parte de las cosas, ¿verdad? Y también por otro más allá, ¿verdad?
(20:26):
De las figuras que representan la estadidad, los que se han aprovechado desde
la posición del status quo, ¿verdad?
Para seguir nutriendo el estatus actual, ¿verdad? Y tratar de defender que se puede, ¿verdad?
Vivir de esa identidad desde el punto de vista de esas alegrías o de esas capacidades
que tenemos a través del Comité Olímpico.
But it is again, that is, that it has become an instrument that is vulnerable
(20:50):
to political manipulation and that is not seen from a completely autonomous
position to what is the political scenario,
because it becomes a political baron, both for statists,
as for state bookmakers, as for independentists.
And it's up to people to position themselves on that and try to understand themselves
(21:11):
as individuals in the context of Olympism, beyond what they serve on the table,
the political characters of the colony.
It's a political ball, it's a political ball of identity.
To the point that I would like to know that if the state comes,
what would happen with the PNP?
Or do you think it is convenient for the political parties that the state is resolved?
(21:35):
So the hyperbole of all this, and much better still, with music,
fanfare, public, enjoying,
is the sports activity, which is what validates right now the Puerto Rican identity.
In fact, to the point that Floyd Meléndez says, this basketball ball is the
(21:56):
rifle that the country gave me to defend it. This is my army.
How is it? What did you say, José? That the basketball team was his army.
And it was the way to reproduce the entire Puerto Rican imagination through sports.
However, I interviewed Sara Rosario these days and she said that in these four
(22:18):
years, an administration of the New Progressive Party,
Governor Pierluisi had been very different in not questioning the fund assignment
that was established by law for the Olympic Committee.
A bit like letting it be seen that he could have been different because he was
(22:39):
a governor aligned to the PNP or a statesman,
no un poco batallar contra el olimpismo y esa identidad a través de los fondos y que no,
que este ecuatrino ya dijo que debía agradecer que habían sido muy diferentes
y todas las asignaciones habían llegado.
And it is important to highlight that before the Pierluisi administration,
(23:00):
in the context of the administration of Rosselló,
those payments that corresponded to the public fund copul had been frozen in
a period that seems to me that they totaled around 4 million that they owed
to the copul prior to being paid again.
Again, they paid them and that had repercussions, right?
From the administrative point of view in the Olympic Committee,
(23:20):
they had to make controversies and once that money came, they saw investments, right?
In what are youth projects. And there we have several examples of athletes who
left high school and quickly sent them to work in Spain or train in Spain.
So yes, there has been an answer, but that responds to other contexts of crisis of administrations,
(23:41):
equally estadista que no interpretaban el comité olímpico de la misma manera
en este caso la administración Rosselló y yo creo que ahí también se convierte en un balón político,
no creo que les convenga mucho porque aún dentro del grupo de los estadistas,
muchísimos puertorriqueños se sienten representados por los equipos independientemente
aquí estemos hablando de lo que puedan representar políticamente a nivel social.
(24:05):
Oye y hay que recordar algo Pipo venía de una contienda I had a face-to-face primary competition,
so it was better for him to break well with everyone in that matter of distributing the torticuli.
But also, I mean the torticuli, I mean the cake, because I know that the kids,
(24:27):
I know that there are people who are going to think that he was distributing diseases, but no.
Y segundo, pues, todos sabemos cuánta diplomacia siempre presenta Sara a la
hora de hacer esas afirmaciones.
Pero eso, cuando uno veía las redes sociales en algún punto,
(24:50):
no cercano, hace unos años atrás, al principio de la administración,
People within the state voices questioned that all those resources were being
facilitated to the Olympians.
Well, there was because the pitiyanquismo is like that, it's rancid,
it trots like crazy out there, you know what I mean?
(25:11):
I mean, when you lack identity self-esteem.
Any saint is good to pray for. So in that aspect, it becomes very easy to sell the homeland.
There is also an issue here of how the Olympic Committee is interpreted in this
(25:35):
case, which is an organization without profit, a private entity.
But what I wanted to get to is that there are people who interpret that sports
should be administered with private funds, that is,
they have to look for all the help from the private sector and that the athletes
represent an instrument of adding capital and that if they have 51 athletes,
(25:59):
they have 51 opportunities to capitalize on the highest economic level and that it is resolved.
But there are also those who interpret that sports is a country project,
a social project, and that through the development of people, through that way,
we can put an alternative on the table to get people forward and that people
identify those spaces as an alternative.
(26:21):
But, again, that vision of a country doesn't walk hand in hand with what we're
seeing in the communities,
with the abandoned parks, with the recreational facilities without attention
and without community sports projects that concentrate mostly in the metropolitan area,
(26:42):
the rest of the towns practically without activity at a youth level, at a child level.
And it's very difficult to sell a country project at a sporting level when in
the communities what there is in the park, the town is a drug point.
And that is very important because while we have one of the largest delegations
(27:03):
that we have had in all our history, I know that Jose is having a good time
too and I know that you are too.
Que me imagino que deben tener, igual que yo, el inbox lleno de gente diciendo,
no tan solo de problemas de administración de las facilidades,
sino de problemas de administración de los programas deportivos.
(27:28):
Y cuidado, tú sabes cuán grotesca se puede poner la cosa según la situación.
Y es bien interesante eso porque en momentos en que recibimos muchas quejas
de cómo se está trabajando el deporte de base, tenemos este grupo de atletas.
(27:48):
Una delegación superchula, grande, que va a representarnos en las Olimpiadas.
Sería muy bueno que tanto el DRD
como el COPUR pongan también bajo lupa el deporte de base en Puerto Rico.
Pero ahí viene el debate, Hermen y Fernando y Encarnación, de que esta delegación
(28:11):
es grande, pero son muchos atletas formados fuera de Puerto Rico.
Programas que no están, ¿verdad? El gobierno no estamos haciendo una inversión
social en ese deporte de base.
Entonces, son atletas que tienen una conexión con Puerto Rico a nivel familiar,
a nivel identitario, pero no se desarrollan aquí.
Entonces, ahí es que vino primero el huevo o la gallina.
(28:33):
Y es importante ahora que señala eso, Ayola, porque por ejemplo,
al COPUN no le corresponde of the development of athletes in Puerto Rico.
And many times that statement that comes from the political sector towards an
organization like COPUR, that we are giving a lot of money and athletes are
not being developed in the yard, is an empty statement because COPUR does not
correspond to that responsibility.
(28:55):
That responsibility falls on the organizations of the base and the federations.
Corren de manera autónoma a lo que es la administración del Comité Olímpico.
Así que el Comité Olímpico es una cosa, cada federación es un mundo aparte y
lo que ocurre en las comunidades son otros 20 pesos.
Entonces yo creo que por eso es que es una gran oportunidad para la gente posicionarse aquí,
(29:17):
porque hay que entender que hay que regresar a los parques y a las canchas de
comunidad a hacer trabajo comunitario, no a cobrarle 100 pesos a papá y a mamá
para enseñarle a jugar un nene o una nena X o Y deporte.
O sea, hay que regresar a hacer trabajo, o sea, de voluntariado,
o sea, enseñarle a los nenes a jugar, a hacer deporte o a reconocer una alternativa en el deporte.
(29:41):
Es una responsabilidad de nosotros como individuos en este país.
Y entonces, dada la crisis que estamos enfrentando, lamentablemente,
un montón de personas en los barrios y en las comunidades, pues están buscándose
el dinero desde mi punto de vista,
de una manera que es bastante injusta para muchas familias en este país.
(30:02):
Y los chamaquitos terminan cansándose de ese modelo.
O sea, de que los traten como nenes de 5 o 7 años compitiendo con una mentalidad
centrada en ganar todo el tiempo
y hay que pagarle al coach 100 pesos para enseñarle a jugar al nene.
Y yo creo que eso rompe con todo lo que representa una participación como la
(30:23):
que vamos a tener en París y por eso es tan importante pensar un poco más allá
de lo que representa esta delegación.
Que sí, son muchos de la diáspora, pero precisamente por eso es que es importante.
Porque eso nos está diciendo que tenemos que mantener esa conexión con ellos
allá, en cualquier parte del mundo que se encuentren, y también rescatarnos
a nosotros mismos, que es lo que no estamos haciendo como sociedad.
(30:45):
Sí, eso que menciona José es bien importante. Yo estaba viendo los otros días
un podcast de los exjugadores de baloncesto,
Filiberto Rivera y Ari Verde, que ellos enfatizan mucho en eso,
en el desarrollo de los menores y en que muchas veces, tanto los padres como los dirigentes,
se enfocan en la competencia y no en que se lo disfruten ellos,
(31:07):
en que se vayan desarrollando en el deporte desde pequeños, disfrutándose la
disciplina, sea cual sea, el béisbol, baloncesto, etc.
Que es importante destacar eso y en que se disfruten lo que están haciendo y
esa es parte del desarrollo no inculcarles desde pequeños una disciplina que todo es ganar,
ganar, ganar para que entonces cuando sean grandes se puedan desarrollar bien
(31:31):
en la disciplina que estén por eso esa participación del equipo femenino de
baloncesto es tan importante para el país,
por lo que representa cada una de esas muchachas para todo el mundo aquí en Puerto Rico.
O sea, moliendo vidrio con el pecho literalmente.
Y lo que representa para ese staff técnico, para figuras como Jerry Batista,
(31:54):
que están metiendo manos en la LAI, o sea, sin recursos.
Buscando de donde aparezcan oportunidades para tratar de sacar el mejor talento posible.
Y lo lograron. Y así se repite con un montón de ejemplos de atletas.
El caso de Jerón Vega es fantástico. I mean, Jerón Vega threw the hammer in
(32:14):
a neighborhood in the Sabana de Luquillo until yesterday, until the other days, and he's in Paris.
He had to go cut grass, do a lot of things. These are things that one,
imagine if he had the resources.
Yes. Hey, the case of Jerry Batista, I mean, the one of Jerón, tremendous.
The one of Jerry Batista, I saw him since he started.
(32:38):
And I saw up close everything that happened, all the problems he had,
the personal situations he overcame.
And it's been years, it's been years, just like Jose says, grinding glass with
his chest to get to where he is. The case of Pamela Rosado.
I mean, if we're going to look for someone to equip the figure of Piculín for
(32:59):
me in women's basketball, I think Pamela Rosado is a Hall of Famer hands down.
I mean, in terms of the importance of his figure with respect to the team.
A veteran who deserves to be there.
So, beyond all those athletes that formed there,
(33:21):
the mere fact that there is a Jeroen Vega, a Pamela Rosado, a Jerry Batista,
a Yola, that in and of itself should make the Puerto Ricans happy.
Y a las puertorriqueñas.
Y yo quería traer un punto, mencionan al baloncesto femenino y es el deporte
femenino. Esta delegación cuenta con muchísimas atletas mujeres.
(33:45):
Nuestras dos medallas de oro son dos medallas de atletas femeninas.
Cuando vemos, hablamos de las olimpiadas como en el tema político,
pues tendemos a pensar en el político, en el tema de estatus,
pero también hay políticas sobre la mujer, sobre el empoderamiento de la mujer.
¿Qué dice que en el olimpismo la mujer esté sacando la cara por el deporte? ¿Cómo lo ven ustedes?
(34:12):
Bueno, o sea, lo mismo que hemos dicho hasta ahora.
O sea, si bien el deporte a nivel general de las categorías menores está prácticamente
abandonado desde ese punto de vista formativo, imagínate con las niñas.
O sea, es triple, cuatro veces más difícil que lleguen al nivel que puede llegar
una Adriana Díaz, Yasmín.
(34:34):
Y habla también de lo que representa a la mujer para nosotros como sociedad.
O sea, nosotros estamos en un país donde todas las semanas estamos viendo noticias
sumamente alarmantes sobre el trato a la mujer.
I don't have enough words to try to articulate a reflection that reaches the
(34:56):
level or does justice to what the participation represents, that is,
of a woman who has developed in the patio here in the last 20 years.
It is to think about it, right? That I reached a level without the resources,
as a Pamela Rosado has done, y con las responsabilidades que hay que asumir
más allá de lo deportivo.
Las que son madres, las que tienen que trabajar yo no sé cuántas horas para
(35:19):
poderse costear el entrenamiento, dietistas...
They work twice, three times more than any male athlete of that same level.
Yes, Fernando, you have on the agenda to talk about important Olympic moments.
And I think that when we talk about important Olympic moments.
Yamin, Mónica, there are some.
(35:41):
I don't know if you have more or want to bring other points with the companions.
Yes, I also wanted to add a fact.
Now, to take advantage of a moment that we were talking about equity this morning
in the metro, we published a note where it says that studies are increasingly
more and more equal in the Olympic Games.
(36:02):
In this Olympiad of Paris, there are 157 male events and 152 female events that
are increasingly balancing a little there.
And going back to the events, I wanted, in these historical events that have
marked our sports history, I wanted Jose and Hermes to give us one.
But I remember, maybe people always talk about the victory of Mónica, the victory of Jasmine.
(36:30):
But to me, one that marked me a lot was the false exit of Javier Coulson.
Because everyone was waiting for that medal. I remember I was in the newsroom,
at that time I was working in a radio station, watching the race and suddenly
when the false exit was given, nobody knew what had happened.
(36:50):
They say there was a false exit and no one knew who it was, until they said Javier Coulson.
And that was how we were from above, we were going to see Javier Coulson,
everyone was in shock, we saw the race and it didn't matter who won.
And then to see David Coulson in the press area crying, for me it was a moment
that marked me and I would also like you to share with us some moments that
(37:15):
you remember from the Olympics.
Well, I agree with you, I remember perfectly.
Of Coulson, and yes, as you say, it was like from the top with C to the top
with S, and that also speaks, right, of what Coulson represented for us,
and what he represents for us,
(37:36):
and that moment also served us to see the most human side of the athlete,
Javier Coulson, there was a time that the only thing that was talked about was
Javier Coulson, the participation in the Diamond League, and that moment,
well, it was like This is the gold that we've been looking for at the Olympic
level with Coulson Cevada.
And we were quite cruel with him after that chapter in his life.
(38:00):
And I think he's been teaching us until today what an athlete has to assimilate.
Once things don't go as expected.
And that speaks of his character and speaks of what, through all his years,
since he started defending the colors of the Catholic in La Lai,
pues demostró, ¿verdad?
Que es la entrega y el coraje de un atleta de ese nivel.
(38:22):
Y nos dio una gran lección y yo la tesoro todavía hoy, a pesar de que sufrí bastante.
Y creo que todos los que estaban a mi alrededor aquel día en casa de abuela
también porque hicimos una comida y todo eso.
Pero sí, fue más allá que la desilusión. Fue una gran lección.
Se sufrió, se sufrió ahí. But Javier too, what he did is Twitter and social media.
(38:48):
Because remember that with the arrival of social media, anyone who hasn't played
with Caquita in the cradle can come and criticize. Dude, run.
You know what I mean? You know.
And well, Coulson was tweeting. I hope they take away the cell phones from the athletes.
(39:11):
Zara, look for a case and put all the cell phones there, give them to the T-Mobile,
since they're giving you the office, give them to Jorgito Martel,
and when everything is over, give them back to him.
A historical moment, Espinal, Espinal, that I didn't expect,
(39:35):
and the guy was going from less to more, from less to more, and boom, he hit the jackpot.
Silver medal to London, right? London.
I also wanted to get there, those London Olympics, all the pressure was on Coulson
and the element of social media, media campaigns were made,
(39:55):
the country paralyzed to see it and there is also a pressure on the emotional,
psychological athlete, Mientras que Espinal no tenía el foco sobre él,
nadie lo estaba mirando, vino inspirado y ganó.
Igual que la medalla de Mónica, son cosas que en el análisis y en los papeles,
(40:16):
ella no podía prever que iba a hacer esa medalla, pero vino inspirada y ganó.
Cómo la presión mental de la audiencia de representar a un país también es un
elemento a tomar en consideración, y lo hablábamos con Sara Rosario la semana pasada,
ella decía que el comité les está dando algún apoyo en términos de también psicólogos
(40:40):
deportivos, pero que cada atleta o cada equipo tiene también su equipo de trabajo en esa área.
Hablaba de lo de las redes sociales, no llegó a decir si le iban a quitar los
celulares, pero yo me imagino, ¿no?
Por ejemplo, ahora nosotros como medio de comunicación estuvimos buscando hacer
entrevistas puntuales con atletas y no se han dado. Y eso no está mal, ¿no?
(41:03):
Porque estas entrevistas lo que hacen es generarle presión a ellos,
pienso yo. No sé cómo ustedes lo ven.
Sí, yo coincido, ¿verdad? Tiene un impacto a nivel psicológico,
definitivamente. O sea, yo no tengo la más mínima duda de eso.
Pero también habla de lo que debe ser ese proceso formativo de los atletas en el contexto actual.
Porque si bien es una distracción todo esto que está ocurriendo con las redes
(41:27):
sociales, Well, you shouldn't use these heights of history as something to justify any stumbling block.
It's something with which we have to coexist and it's something that you have
to face from that corner.
It's not easy at all. One is saying it here, shooting crazy bullets,
but it's something with which the athlete should prepare in the present.
(41:51):
Sexuality and it's something that they are facing continuously,
that is to say, that you shouldn't focus only on the physical aspect,
but you also have to go to the mental gym continuously and they are things that go hand in hand.
Hermes also had a medal, it was Olympic, right? Daniel, Daniel Santos was a boxer. Daniel Santos.
(42:11):
Daniel Santos, I don't know if it was 92 or 96.
Atlanta was 9-6. Yes. Yes, Daniel Santos.
I had the opportunity to cover Daniel as a professional, including the fight
with Jory Boy Campa in Las Vegas.
(42:32):
And, you know, the boxers prior to the 21st century, they were the boxers, those who took the face.
I mentioned Aníbal Acevedo right now, but also for the example of Daniel Santos.
And they were all bronze medals.
I don't know if there is one of silver, I would have to check well,
(42:54):
but almost all of them were bronze.
What speaks very well of the Boxing Federation and the boxers and the boxing talent,
and what has happened in this new century, pues habla también muy bien del desarrollo
de Puerto Rico en los otros deportes, particularmente el atletismo,
(43:19):
porque si bien es cierto que Jasmine es formada afuera, Coulson no,
Coulson es producto de la LAI.
Y entonces pues algo se está haciendo bien, o algo se ha hecho bien.
Y una de las posibilidades de medalla para París que se ha hablado es de Calo, ¿no? Sí, con Aiden.
(43:43):
Y Aiden vino, se mudó para Puerto Rico también.
Si bien se están haciendo señalamientos de que se desarrolló allá,
vino a prepararse acá a Puerto Rico hace meses y se estableció acá por voluntad propia.
O sea, quería estar aquí, quería desarrollarse aquí, quería enriquecer ese sentido de identidad.
(44:04):
Y eso habla de lo que viene señalando Hermes hace un rato y de la necesidad
que tenemos de reconocer que hay que fortalecer todos esos espacios para garantizar
que no solo los que vienen de allá para acá tengan,
todo lo necesario para competir al más alto nivel, sino que los que están aquí
pues también se puedan desarrollar y después no estar pidiéndole o rindiéndole
(44:25):
cuentas al Copol porque no invierten un desarrollo que no le corresponde,
Y hablando de A mí me gusta Adriana Díaz,
Do you think you can get inspired?
She has won, in these days, she won the number two in the world.
I don't know, I like it. I think it's something.
(44:47):
But Adriana is another figure who has the pressure of the country on her since she was a little girl.
Impressive how she has handled it.
I'm sure she's one of the best people who can shed light on how an athlete can
channel all that pressure.
Because if someone has channeled it well and used it, from what we see here,
(45:12):
she looks like a great example of it.
About boxing, it has always caught my attention how that has changed in recent
years, how it is so difficult for us now to put boxers at the level of fans
who arrive at the Olympics.
And I think it talks about both the market of boxing at a professional level,
(45:33):
as well as what other disciplines have been representing.
Other disciplines, that is, already going up a ring, one does not go up to play,
one literally is playing life as they say, the skin is played every time you
go up to the ring and you have a.
Slightly light perception of what boxing is out there on the street,
that because we do not have so many boxers, well,
(45:55):
I think there was a figure here quite important for the sport,
de que era el señor Fufi Santori que fue un crítico bastante,
fuerte con el boxeo por lo que representaba para los jóvenes desde el punto
de vista económico como los más pobres,
que lo subían ahí a darte cantazo y si tú eras bueno dando puños,
(46:16):
pues entonces ahí tenemos un gran atleta, yo creo que superamos eso,
y a mí me parece importante que lo hayamos superado, el que quiera ser boxeador,
más allá de los que asumen el reto a nivel aficionado, que se lance el profesionalismo
y lo haga ganándose un buen dinero,
para que because then he will suffer the impacts of the system's abandonment.
A cool little fact about boxing, Juanma López Jr.
(46:41):
He competed 20 years after his father competed.
We hope that he doesn't have to face any betting referee in that cross and that he can move forward.
Y en el boxeo también tenemos representación femenina. Así que vamos a ver esa
acción también en boxeo masculino y femenino.
(47:05):
El nene Steven Piñeiro en la pasada Olimpiada hizo una buena representación.
¿Esperan que también vuelva a meterse en ese top de atletas este año en París?
Sí, yo creo que sí. Yo creo que Steven ha hecho un buen trabajo a lo largo de
todo el ciclo. y es uno de esos que calladitos está sumando y moviéndose para
(47:29):
tratar de estar al más alto nivel.
Yo creo que no solo él, desde esa esquina, hay otros atletas,
a mí me parece, por ejemplo, el caso de Rachel de Orbetta en marcha es sorprendente.
Independientemente, no se sube al podio. O sea, el mero hecho de que tengamos
una marchista a nivel olímpico con las implicaciones que tiene eso a lo largo
(47:51):
de todo el ciclo olímpico I
mean, with extremely expensive trips to places very far away, it's brutal.
I mean, I think we have to develop another podium, that comes out of the traditional podium,
and try to identify those participations in non-traditional disciplines,
and go up to the podium, to those athletes that manage to participate there,
(48:15):
and, for example, improve personal marks.
I think that's also an exercise that the same delegation deserves.
That's a very interesting case, Rachel's case, because she was dribbling a series of situations,
specifically with the help and that, and I understand that it was a very good
(48:44):
development until she arrived in Paris.
So, en un caso, es un caso que como dice José, el mero hecho de que tengamos
una marchista ahí, de que salga esa muchacha a enalbolar la monoestrellada,
el mero hecho de que eso pase...
One that maybe knows more or less how to beat the backstage copper and the things
(49:06):
that can, the bays that he had to jump, and he's a marxist, he's not 400 with bays,
the bays that he had to jump to get where he is, that in itself gratifies him.
I understand that the other banderado, in addition to Jasmine,
is in Lucha, Judo, and that it is proposed that he has possibilities of medals, Fernando.
(49:28):
Sí, sí, ahora se me escapó el nombre, pero sí, es uno de los deportes de combate.
Seba Rivera, Seba Rivera, Sebastián Rivera. Sebastián Rivera, sí.
También hay deportes que se estrenan en este ciclo, Fernando, ¿querías hablar de eso?
Sí, yo quería aprovechar, ¿verdad?, que tenemos aquí a Hermes Ayala,
(49:50):
que es tanto periodista deportivo y periodista en múltiples temas,
como también es de la cultura del hip hop, which represents inclusion, right?
We were talking about skateboarding right now, now between the breaking and
the Olympics, what does this represent for the culture of hip hop,
the inclusion of this sport at the Olympic level?
(50:12):
Well, I find it very interesting that this has been achieved,
it is an achievement, not only, I say, for the culture of hip hop,
but for any cualquier movimiento alternativo subterráneo que tenga que ver con deportes y con cultura.
Va por la misma línea quizás del skate y del surfing, pero el hecho de que sea un deporte, ¿verdad?
(50:42):
Que se combine con música. Yo no sé si, ¿qué iría ahí también?
¿Gimnasia sería lo otro? ¿Qué es así? ¿Gimnasia, ritmo? Gimnasia and synchronized swimming.
When you come to see them, they are traditionally sports from a society sector,
(51:06):
perhaps very different from what hip hop would be,
because they are sports that are developed in sectors of greater economic power,
of an economic power that is not precisely the one with which hip hop is related, that breaking,
(51:31):
the same hip hop culture comes from the neighborhoods, right?
It comes from the marginal sectors as a tool of expression.
And seeing that is something that fills you with a lot of joy,
particularly when one has worked that art in some way,
(51:52):
and a lot of respect for the b-boys, a lot of respect for the girls,
for the DJs, for the graffiti artists, you have to understand that this breaking
sport is part of one of four elements of hip-hop,
which would be the b-boys, so So seeing it is something that gives a lot of joy, I feel.
(52:13):
Well, for the people, for the benefit of those who are watching and listening,
I'm going to review quickly the events or disciplines where Puerto Rico is going
to have representation.
In athletics, 100 metros vallas, Yasmín Camacho Queen. Lucha,
Sebastián Rivera. Boxing, Ashley Anlosada.
Indela, Pedro Luis Fernández.
(52:34):
Clavado, Maisey Vieta. Clavado, too, Emanuel Vázquez.
En baloncesto la selección femenina y la selección masculina en lucha darían cruz ethan ramos yo,
no va smith en boxeo juanma
lópez tiro con arco alondra ribera en atletismo el décalo andy owens en tenis
(52:55):
de mesa adriana díaz golf rafael campo va a estar allá tenis de mesa también
va a estar en afanador daniel gonzález tiro de rifle tres posiciones yarimar
mercado atletismo 400 metros,
Glaze Claxton en atletismo, Salto Alto Luis Joel Castro,
en atletismo Marsha, Rachel de Orbetta en atletismo, 400 metros,
(53:18):
Gabby Scott en lanzamiento de martillo, Jerome Vega 100 metros,
Gladimar Torres y la selección de baloncesto masculino así que esos son los
atletas que estarán vistiendo los colores de Puerto Rico en las olimpiadas algún
comentario final antes de despedirnos compañeros,
recordarle o recalcarle a la gente que cada participación o que cada vez que
(53:43):
vean a uno de los atletas del patio allá pues.
Reconozcan los sacrificios que conllevó llegar a ese nivel en el marco de los
retos que estamos enfrentando nosotros en el Puerto Rico de hoy y de lo que
los más pequeñitos merecen de cara al futuro.
That when they see the basketball team, both female and male,
(54:06):
they remember the neighborhood court, they remember the school court,
they remember the manager who charges them 200 pesos, 150 pesos for teaching
them to play a 5-year-old boy, and the same with other disciplines.
And that they problematize it or internalize it, that they reflect on each participation
beyond the Chiji Chija Deportivo.
(54:26):
Mr. Ayala, Master Jedi.
Well, well.
Jose said it more nicely than I can say it.
It's time to sit down and break the night.
What's the difference in time? Six hours.
(54:46):
How much? Six hours. Six hours, so there's going to be a lot of early morning
competition and all that.
Yes. Ah, well, you know, early on, make the coffee, or if you're one of those
who goes to three beer boxes, like I did, watching a basketball game,
take advantage of it, it has an excuse.
(55:08):
And call your family, because there's nothing better than seeing a Puerto Rican
Olympic triumph with your dad by your side, with your mom, with your children,
with your family, because they're little things that happen four times.
There are two things that will happen every four years. One more paperweight than the other.
(55:29):
One better than the other. There is the fiasco of this election,
which is every four years, and there is the Olympic joy.
Put it on the scale and go for the Olympic joy.
And then when November arrives, you know, try to vote for the alternatives that...
That they go to Huira, Hermes, to Huira.
(55:53):
Well, both for the Olympic activity and for the electoral activity from here
to November, Metro is going to have a full coverage.
Here our web editor Fernando Collazo is already filling, assembling the content
blocks in all the digital platforms.
Digitales, Encarnación, te leemos en el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo y
(56:17):
también pueden ver todas esas piezas a través de Metro Puerto Rico.
Hermes, te vemos en Guapa Televisión, te escuchamos en las plataformas digitales
con tu música y ya estaremos entonces dialogando sobre toda tu actividad.
Instagram, Instagram, pendiente que agosto, septiembre serán trascendentales.
(56:41):
Y que la gente recuerde allá que el
deporte es la esencia para una mejor vida como decía el águila Tony Sánchez
así mismo es no hay forma mejor de cerrar este podcast gracias a todos gracias
Fernando a nuestros amigos de Metropuerto Rico los invitamos a que se mantengan
conectados a todas nuestras plataformas digitales.
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com